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Browsing by Author "Aronson, D. R."

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  • Annex H: Niger range and livestock project social soundness analysis
    Aronson, D. R. (1976)
    The Niger Range and Livestock Project has the twin aims of increasing the incomes of pastoralists in central Niger, and finding a long-term ecological balance in the zone. Sheep epidemic and the risk of cattle or camel rustling have resulted in the overrepresentation of goats in the Tuareg herds. The Tuareg form a small, politically independent group which is heavily involved in the market as a means of rebuilding their herds. They are relatively sedentary, but transhume along a northwest-southwest route to the salt cure. The Peul recognize the dominance of the Tuareg, and live in scattered and small communities and lack deep kinship groups; this makes for difficult census taking. They have few market needs and are irregular in their transhumance patterns. The paper outlines the forces which have brought change to the region. Firstly is the destruction of the Tuareg traditional political economy by the French, then the intensification of agriculture through the freeing of Tuareg slaves. The creation of a national boundary with Nigeria blighted the Tuareg trade routes, and this was followed by a decline in the terms of trade. Population pressure increased as a result of national social policy and the building of wells, and the onset of the Sahelian drought gave rise to in higher losses. The project is experimental in nature, and has broad implications, particularly in the light of a changing environment, including the tripling of uranium mine labor demands and the competition for salt trade. It is founded on the establishment of social organization and communication, both of which are hampered by the low population density. There is no guarantee of success, and the project may see the number of pastoralists continuing to decline. However, if it is successful, pastoralists will be encouraged to change their management strategies by overcoming technical constraints which they now face, and their level of autonomy will be enhanced by their increased bargaining power in the Nigerian economy. Replicability will be assured by the intensive research into herding management and the development of cost-effective technical intervention, although it is recognized that other areas have different social arrangements and managing practices. -from Blench and Marriage Annotated Bibliography
  • Implementing local participation: The Niger range and livestock project
    Aronson, D. R. (1985)
    The paper examines the conceptual, ethical, and structural ambiguities which emerged in the Niger Range Livestock project, implemented between 1978 and 1983. Thinking around this time centered around pastoralists as superfluous to development schemes as they were nomadic, and in need of rescue from their own destruction. In this context, the introduction of participatory, beneficiary and socially sensitive development planning was surprising. The directive to ensure "local participation" is about channels of information, not content and is part of a democratic concern with government "by the people.' "Participation" assumes that everyone has an opinion to voice and that development should progress according to the aggregate will of the people, conditions which are not obtained in many pastoral societies. There is irony in the fact that anthropologists have favored the politically-loaded technique of participation. Involving local people is a complex issue: needs and policies which match the project capabilities have to be defined. There is no culture-free source of information on universal validity, and anthropologists need to exercise their ethical choices as much as their scientific judgment.
  • Must Nomads Settle? Some Notes Toward Policy on the Future of Pastoralism
    Aronson, D. R. (New York: Praeger [a J. F. Bergin Publishers book], 1980)
    Pastoralists have been settling and uprooting continuously, but current development thinking regards nomads as opponents, rather than valuing the knowledge they have acquired from generations of adaptation. Similarly, communication does not flow the other way, and pastoralists are generally unaware of the directions of government development planning. There are six features of pastoral life which need to be understood: pastoralists are engaged in multi-resource economies; they move out of necessity rather than choice; economic decisions are made with a view to long term security; production aims to maximize the number of goals, not just economic goals; ownership and management of herds may be in different hands; pastoralists are vigilant to changes in their environment. Policy directed towards pastoral communities must do away with stereotypical images of nomadic herders; sedentarization is frequently unviable, for the reason that, if it were an appropriate response to the conditions in hand, the pastoralists would make it unaided. Policy recommendations regarding pastoralists can come from two angles; either they hope to destroy pastoralism as a means of livelihood, or they hope to enhance the lives of the pastoralist as legitimate citizens. Assuming the latter position, areas for development would be access to veterinary medicine and relations between pastoralists and other members of the population. It is a mistake to presume that the crux of the pastoralist system is the contribution it makes to the national economy; on the contrary, it is often only the surplus to subsistence needs which goes to market. Priorities for development lie in improving the standard of living for pastoralists and secondly, increasing the growth of the national economy to which they contribute. The decline of pastoralism is not inevitable from an environmental point of view, as enough rangeland exists to support large numbers of people and herds. -from Blench and Marriage Annotated Bibliography